Your View: We don't need GOP's 'business as usual'

Thursday

Oct 18, 2012 at 12:01 AM

We dream the future. Let's not make the future a nightmare. We can not let the Republicans stampede us into an epidemic of fear. Barack has the courage to dream the American dream of equal opportunity for everyone. Work hard and play by the rules and you can be successful. Make sacrifices so our children can have a better life, and their children, until the seventh generation. What do you want to leave for them? We are the stewards of the earth.

STEVEN BONNEY

We dream the future. Let's not make the future a nightmare. We can not let the Republicans stampede us into an epidemic of fear. Barack has the courage to dream the American dream of equal opportunity for everyone. Work hard and play by the rules and you can be successful. Make sacrifices so our children can have a better life, and their children, until the seventh generation. What do you want to leave for them? We are the stewards of the earth.

The Republicans have taught us to fear. Why? So they can pretend to protect us and stay in power. Since 9/11 the Republicans have made us afraid. Afraid of Saddam. Afraid of Moslems. Afraid of Iran. Afraid of immigrants. Afraid of ourselves. Now we have the Patriot Act and the government can investigate anyone they want without a warrant or probable cause. We have full body scans and pat-downs at the airports. We have put people in jail indefinitely without charges. We have 2.3 million people in jail. How much freedom do you want to give up for safety?

All of our great leaders have had a vision of America's future. Washington had a vision of an America free from the British Empire. He dedicated his life and fortune to his vision. Lincoln had a vision of an America free from slavery and he had the courage to fight for it even if it meant his life. Roosevelt had a vision of an America free from want. "Necessitous men are not free men," he said. He started programs to put people back to work and lift them out of poverty. King had a vision of an America free from race-hatred and discrimination, where black people could actually vote, not just have the "right" to vote. Johnson had a vision of an America that lived King's and Roosevelt's dream. Carter had a vision of a sustainable world living in peace. Barack has a vision for America's future. We can stop living in fear and stop hating. We can all prosper in this country, the richest in the world.

This election is still about Bush. He had a vision of a world dominated by the American Empire, and he started two wars to achieve it. Aggression is the worst war crime because it leads to all the others. Bush blew up the deficit and he blew up the economy with his crony capitalism and empire building. Why isn't he in jail? Barack has started us down a different path, one that led to Oslo and the Nobel Peace Prize. This prize was a world-wide rebuke to Bush and an expression of hope for the future. We have to re-elect Barack so he can earn his prize. The Republicans will start more wars, and blow up the budget again. That's what they do. Then they blame Barack for the deficit they caused. Barack wants to invest in America, not in foreign wars.

Don't you see? The Republicans create fear so they can rule us. Barack isn't afraid, and we need to stand up with him. This is a watershed election. Are we going to live in the Republican world of continuous war, of rich and poor, where everyone is afraid, or are we going to live in a peaceful world with a prosperous middle class and middle class values? Our democracy is at stake here. We can't have democracy if everyone is rich or poor. We can't have democracy without economic justice for the middle class.

Romney has a vision too. Run the country like a business. Run the country like a business, and then everyone is expendable. I don't feel expendable. Do you?